Fate or Tragedy
by rosethorn200
Summary: Ichigo walks in on his father's dead body and his younger sister as she barely holds onto life during a robbery. Ichigo manages to escape with both his sisters but is now a key witness against crime lord Aizen. Now Ichigo and his sisters become targets but Ichigo has never taken threats laying down. AU.
1. Chapter 1

Steam clouded the bathroom as the hot water poured down the teens back in the small confines of the bathroom. The teen ducked his head under the water to finish washing out his hair, as the water rushed over his scalp and added extra weight to his hair he leaned forward and rested his head on the cool tiles of the wall enjoying the change in temperature slowly he allowed his eyes to close. Turning off the water he stepped out of the shower and took the towel he'd prepared and left out on the sink, drying off his drenched skin. After slipping on a shirt and a pair of loose shorts he stepped outside the room and slowly started making his way down the steps quietly, the occasional sound of his feet drowned out by the T.V downstairs. The teen smiled and was about to announce his presence to his napping family members when the metallic smell of blood flooded his nose almost forcing him to gag. The teen poked his head further out from the stair well and barely kept from yelling his horror and emotional pain, his father was on the floor eyes opened unblinking. His mother was nowhere to be seen but his youngest sister, Yuzu, was on the couch, shirt opened and chest hardly moving. He couldn't find his other sister anywhere and he was about to risk running to Yuzu when there was a loud clatter from the kitchen and a light chuckle.

"Gin, you should be more careful in other people's houses," a man's baritone voice drifted to the teen resting on the stairs.

"I wouldn't have this problem if people left their stuff in easier to access places," another man's voice drifted to the teen's ears. A few moments after that his other sister's scream came from the upstairs bedroom.

"Aizen seems to be having fun," the first voice commented.

"And I'm stuck lookin' through pots," the other, Gin, responded bitterly. There were footsteps that came after his comment and the teen got a good look at an African man with blinders over his eyes.

"You enjoyed killing the father," the man standing in front of the teen called to the one called Gin who was, from the sounds of the pots being moved around, looking through the kitchen for valuables.

"Yeah, if the brother was home I would have enjoyed killin' him too but he's over at his friends," Gin continued to complain from the kitchen. Taking a silent breath the teen silently slipped behind the African man and behind the couch his sister was laying on, struggling for air. A few moments after another man came down the stairs and Ichigo found himself giving silent thanks to the sky that he moved out of the stairway. The man was fairly tall with wavy brown hair and was probably the man the others were referring to as Aizen.

"Have you found it yet," the man standing where Ichigo squatted mere moments before asked.

"NO! I AIN'T," Gin shouted from the kitchen furiously.

"Do try to keep your voice down, unlike you I have no desire to be caught with the bodies in this room and no excuse," the African man stated without emotion as he moved back towards the kitchen.

"Tousen, do try to remember the importance of group work," Aizen said from the stairs with a slight chuckle in his voice as he followed the others to look for whatever was in the kitchen.

Leaning over Ichigo allowed himself become visible and looked at his dad's unmoving body and took a shaky breath. Ichigo then gathered his little sister's body as she still struggled to take breaths and slowly backed up to the front door that hung opened. Ichigo had to stop a few times to make sure he was still moving in the right path and to look at his sister who's blonde hair was almost red from the blood seeping from a cut on her head and the sticky feeling that soaked through his thin shirt and onto his freshly washed body. After what felt like hours he felt a cool breeze run up his spine to show that he was at the door and after staring at the doorway between the kitchen and living room for a few moments and detecting no movement Ichigo turned and sprinted out of the house, adrenalin keeping him from becoming winded or slowing down. Ichigo moved past a few houses to an elderly woman's where he knocked on the door and looked down the street for signs of the people from his house. The door opened to show the worried face of the woman who, the second she caught sight of Yuzu, threw her door opened, yanked Ichigo inside, and promptly slammed the door behind him.

"Are you alright dear?" She asked taking Yuzu from Ichigo's arms and bringing his sister over to her couch. Ichigo didn't respond he just looked around lost before the woman pushed him into an armchair and grabbed a landline phone. She handed it to Ichigo and gave him a look that said 'you better call someone and explain what's going on.' Slowly Ichigo dialed the number for the police and in a shaky voice explained what he had left his house as. Not ten minutes later the sound of sirens sounded as they raced by the house Ichigo and Yuzu were resting in. Ichigo wasn't sure what he expected to happen or if he even expected anything at all but when a sudden explosion rocked the house around him Ichigo jumped and covered his sister's body with his own. Nothing else could be heard for a few minutes and then there was a sharp knock at the door and the woman, Ichigo was too in shock to remember her name, answered the door and allowed some officers into the house and introduced Ichigo and Yuzu to the men. Ichigo didn't pay much attention to what happened after that, he only really remembered them telling him that Karin got out as well by climbing through the bedroom window but they hadn't believed her about what was happened until Ichigo's call came in. There were lights and paramedics coming in and Yuzu being carried away on a stretcher and talk of broken ribs and head trama but nothing really registered in Ichigo's mind for the rest of the evening or the next few days. Not that anyone really noticed or cared.

# #

Hey guys, I'm not sure if I should have even posted this because it seems kinda stupid but I got a cupple pushes to post so your ideas. I'm debating between two endings, one serious and kinda humorus. The other is more morbid with potential humor so tell me what you think. Also I'm fine with whatever pairing you want, review with who you would like and then if I deside to continue I'll show the pairing options you have posted and you can all just review option 1, 2, 3 exc. please review and tell me what you think.


	2. Chapter 2

I did my best not to constantly tap my foot as I sat in the police office waiting room for a sketch artist to come and get an idea of who they were looking for. Yuzu was in critical condition and Karin was nothing but angry; that's for the best I suppose, better than her going into a fit of depression. There was a lot of talk about foster care for all of us because of our lack of family members, we would need to wait for Yuzu's recovery as well as my sisters and I to finish with all this questioning before anything could be decided, I wasn't sure what to feel about the idea.

A sudden weight plopped itself in my lap and startled me almost enough to yelp. I glanced up at the older man who had taken residence in my lap and found myself slightly stunned by him. He was tall with a head of silver-blue hair, his eyes were closed and he had a full faced grin.

"Kurosaki?" he asked grinning down at me. I mutely nodded, blinking when he grasped my hand. "Pleasure to meet you, I'll be talking with you about the men who broke into your house to get an idea about their faces," he said jubilantly. I blinked for a few seconds at his grinning face before he sighed and hopped off my lap and pulled me to my feet. "I'm the sketch artist they assigned to your case, if you'll follow me I'll show you to my office where we can talk," he clarified. I nodded again and he skipped off with me following close behind through the multiple hallways to his office.

"Do you want anything to eat or drink?" he asked without turning around as we took a sharp left into a vending room and he popped a roll of quarters out of his pocket.

"Not really," I answered, my voice sounding strange to my ears.

"I do, you think I should get the chips or a candy bar?" he responded distantly as he tossed the quarters up and down in his hand. I shrugged, nothing was really sinking in at the current time.

"I'll come back later," he eventually muttered and led me back out of the room and to his office.

His office was an off white with small golden-brown desk with a sketch pad and a scattered assortment of pencils. He stepped out of the office for a moment and returned with two chairs that he dragged to the middle of the room.

"Come on in and we can get started, my name's Ichimaru and this," he used his hand to gesture over the room, "is my humbled office."

"Ichigo," I answered quietly as I walked over to the offered chair. Ichimaru ran around the room picking up his scattered supplies for a few moments before he hopped into the seat across from me and looked at me expectantly. "Where do I start?" I asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Let's start with on guy at a time and just describe their faces, if you got a look at it, and then I'll draw," Ichimaru replied with a sweeping motion of his hand, he seemed to enjoy that gesture.

It took a while to get started but once the words started rolling out of my mouth it was like a dam broke and everything I noticed tumbled out without thought or hesitation. Ichimaru's hand never stopped either, and in the space of thirty minutes I was looking at two very life-like portraits of the men who had broken into my house.

"Anything wrong with my art?" Ichimaru asked once he finished shadowing the pictures, I didn't see the point and he must have been really bored.

"No," I answered simply as my eyes glanced over the renderings.

"Alright, you want that snack now?"

"Yes please."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

There was an escort and car waiting for me when I exited the station, it was a large black SUV with tinted windows, they told me Yuzu was still in critical condition but there was a high chance she would survive. I climbed into the car with a relieved smile on my face, my sister was going to be fine.

XxXxXxXx

Karin was even more overjoyed than I had been when I told her that Yuzu was almost definitely going to live. It honestly seemed like everything was starting to right itself in our worlds again.

"Can we see her?" Karin demanded suddenly, startling me from my hopeful thoughts. I looked up at the officer who had been placed in our room for an answer.

"I don't see why not, I'll try to schedule it," he answered with a light smile. Karin nodded firmly before she stalked off to her room, she never turned off her light but I knew she was asleep; I hadn't gotten around to unplugging the nightlight in my designated room either.

"I guess it's going to take some time to get used to," I muttered to my self as I peeled myself from the couch and headed to my room to change.

"Ichigo! Go take a freaking shower," Karin snapped from her room and I felt myself wince at the idea. I hadn't gone into a shower since the robbery and the deodorant I had used to keep the effects to myself wasn't going to cut it anymore. My feet seemed glued to the floor and my throat felt like I had eaten sandpaper as a cold sweat broke out on my body.

"I'll be fine," my voice wasn't even enough to convince myself that I believed it. Karin threw her room door opened with a look of pure fury as she threw a pair of black boxers in my face and dragged me into the bathroom.

"I'll stay here if it'll make you feel better and you can just shower with those," she gave the boxers she had thrown in my face a pointed look. We both stood in silence for a few minutes, I couldn't stand the thought of looking so weak when I was the only person she had left to cling to.

I started laughing as I picked Karin up and carried her, as she aimed some well placed kicks into my stomach, back to her room.

"Goodnight, I don't need you to take a shower," I affirmed with a light smile. Karin seemed to buy it and she shut her door. I took a deep breath and headed back into the bathroom.

XxXxX

Sorry for the delay, I don't have school so no computer access there and I don't have a computer at my house so getting chapters done will be a pain from here on until the end of the summer.

On the couple thing, I was thinking and if there was any romance it would have to be non-con and I hate writing that so...anyone against no couples sorry for giving that option and then wiping it off the table :( Also, are these chapters looking ok, I don't have a beta on this and I'm typing and then posting so I'm not sure how this came out so I need to know about what you guys, an outside source, feels about it.


	3. Chapter 3

I'm sorry for the delay, I now have a computer at home and school so updates will be more frequent :D

XxXxX

Admittedly, the shower made Ichigo feel completely refreshed when he woke up the next morning; despite the overall panic that had been instilled within him during the process. Stepping out of his small hotelish room he almost fell backwards when Karin leapt at him full force. The comment about her acting like Isshin died on his lips, his stomach to dropping uncomfortably.

"We can see Yuzu today!" Karin yelled happily as she jumped around, unaware of her brother's inner turmoil.

"When today," Ichigo asked the guard who was smiling slightly at his sister's joyous dance.

"Whenever the two of you,"

"NOW! Ichigo put on some real clothes!" Karin exclaimed, pushing Ichigo back into his room with furious determination lighting up her eyes.

Smiling softly Ichigo allowed himself to be lead to his room to put on some 'real' clothes. After Karin fixed him with a glare and snapped at him to be quick she slammed the door and let out a joyous whoop. Pulling his t-shirt off his tan torso Ichigo spared himself a glance in the mirror, he looked like crap. His eyes were duller than normal and his skin had taken a chalkier look, the once prepared and tense muscles we now lax from the lack of surprise attacks and exercise. Tearing his eyes away from the mirror Ichigo went back to the task at hand: get dressed.

When Ichigo stepped out of his room he was immediately in a death grip as Karin pulled him out of the apartment and downstairs to the awaiting police car.

"I'm going to get to see her! I can't wait!" Karin chattered at, rather than to, Ichigo as they drove along to the hospital.

"Karin," Ichigo interrupted after ten minutes.

"Yeah, what?"

"I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 100, you have ten questions."

"I hate this game," Karin growled and turned to glare out the window, silently.

Glancing out the window Ichigo allowed his mind to drift without taking in the scenery. He could move to adopt his sisters but that probably wouldn't work out for anyone, and the judge would never go for it. Was it too much to hope that whoever broke into his house got killed by mobsters?

"We'll be there in two minutes," the driver announced.

"Ichigo, I can finally get to see her!"

Groaning internally Ichigo fixed his distracted gaze on his sister as she spoke twenty miles a minute about how happy she was and allowed his mind to go blank.

XxXxX

Yuzu's eyes lit up when Karin ran into the room with Ichigo in tow, the room was located in the more securable part of the hospital in case someone came after her.

"YUZU!" Karin shouted jumping up onto her sister's bed to get a better hold on her for a hug.

"Hey," Ichigo greeted with a light smile at the two.

Rather than respond Yuzu's eyes filled up with tears and she let out a muffled sob as she threw her arms around Karin.

"Look at what your insensitive greeting did, stupid," Karin snapped as she sent glares in Ichigo's direction.

Glancing at the officers posted in the room Ichigo silently asked for a few minutes alone. After a few tentative moments both of them exited, closing the door behind them. The second they were out of the room the tears that were difficult to spot in Karin's eyes fell and she let out a pained sob of her own as her grip on Yuzu tightened. Taking a deep breath and steeling himself for the emotional rollercoaster he was about to jump on; Ichigo sat down on the bed and pulled his sisters into his arms the way he had seen his mother do so many times before and let them cry.

"We're going to get through this," he whispered quietly.

"Of course we are, idiot," Karin snapped, her voice breaking halfway through.

Ichigo hummed in agreement and tightened his arms around his sisters. Ichigo considered asking the two of them what they thought about him taking over the adoption but was interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Not to interrupt but, we just received word that the people you described were found this evening and you're needed at the station," an officer called through the door.

"Coming," Ichigo called. Glancing down at his sisters he was relieved and worried when Karin scrubbed at her eyes and told him she was fine.

"I'm going to be excused from the hospital in a few hours, I should be going home tonight," Yuzu stated softly.

Covering his ears from his other sister's delighted squeal Ichigo stood up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. Glancing down the hall, Ichigo's heart was in his throat at the dead officers lying on the ground at his feet.

"Kurosaki?" a man asked from where he stood leaning against the wall to Ichigo's right.

"Yes," Ichigo answered, turning to face the man and doing his best to ignore the urge to run as the man lifted a gun level with his chest.

"The bodies you are about to identify are not the men who you claim you saw. However, you will say they are or I will come back here and kill your sisters, am I clear," he asked.

"Yes, you are," Ichigo responded, allowing himself to breathe again when the man was out of sight.

XxXxX

There had been a bit of panic when the officer's bodies were found but after a few minutes of discussion a few other officers ushered him out to a police car that took him to the morgue. The morgue wasn't as depressing as it was meant to be, there were bright flowers, normal lights rather than florescent, pretty deep green marble floors, and nice brown walls.

The officer led him back to a room with three separate body bags, the face part opened to allow him to identify the bodys. Ichigo didn't really take in what they looked like, just allowed his eyes to slowly glance over their faces before silently nodding to the officer to say that these were the men.

"Gin was right, these are the guys," he called to the other officers waiting outside the door.

"Gin?" Ichigo asked, fear coiling in his stomach.

"Yeah, the sketch artist you met with," the officer said distractedly before walking out of the room, leaving Ichigo by himself.

He should have known, Ichigo reflected internally, the voice had seemed familiar but he had pushed it to the back of his mind for the sake of getting through everything quickly. Whoever it was that had broken into his house and attempted to kill his family was far more major than he had given them credit for, they had a man in the police force that had an active hand in his misfortune for crying out loud.

"Kurosaki Ichigo?" a deep female voice called from behind him. Turning Ichigo was slightly relieved to find a short woman with black hair standing in the door.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"No, but I can help you. Would you like to help me and my associates take down the people who broke into your home?" she asked with a formal air.

"Sure, why?" Ichigo asked, slightly guarded about the current situation.

"Meet me back here at 8:00 tonight and we'll talk, if you do show up you need to be prepared to never see your sisters again or you'll put them in danger, do I make myself clear?" she asked, fixing him with, what he assumed was meant to be, a threatening glare.

"I'll have to think about it," Ichigo answered.

She nodded as if she had expected the answer. "Later Kurosaki," she stated and walked off.

"Later?" he asked himself after she left, today couldn't get weirder.

XxXxX

Ichigo maneuvered himself out of his sister's firm hold where they had fallen asleep on the couch. Reaching down he lifted the two of them up and carried them to Karin's room, tucking them into bed and closing the door.

"Ready to go?" he asked himself quietly glancing up at the clock.

7:25.

Sighing and sending a glance to the closed doors to his sister's room, Ichigo walked over to the window and climbed out onto the ground below. Making his way slowly down the street Ichigo considered the day's ups and downs until his brain hurt and then until he could no longer focus on a thought. Glancing down at his watch he considered the time and distance, 7:45 and another ten miles left to walk…what was he thinking?

Standing on the street corner for a couple seconds Ichigo sighed and turned around, slowly making his way back to the hotel.

He couldn't leave his sister's alone like this.

XxXxX

So, I considered having Ichigo leave in this chapter but desided that I can advance the plot and add more substance to the story if his hand is forced. Looking foward to reviews and feed back and once again sorry for the delay.


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